


Reveals

by Himeneka



Series: How it's done [4]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Time Travel, Fix-It, Gen, Time Travel Fix-It
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-05
Updated: 2018-08-05
Packaged: 2019-06-22 10:14:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,545
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15579708
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Himeneka/pseuds/Himeneka
Summary: Hiashi is behaving strangely. Hizashi investigates.





	Reveals

Hizashi was having a hard time deciding if he was going insane, or his brother was. Since Hiashi had come back very late from an impromptu reunion with several other clan heads, visibly shaken and more than a bit tipsy, he wasn’t quite the same. Hizashi had been on a mission then, so he hadn’t seen for himself, but Eri had been worried, and his sister-in-law had been more than happy to share what she had seen and speculate with him about what could have happened.

Hizashi’s relationship with his twin had always been delicate, varying in time between so close they didn’t need words to communicate, to so distant Hiashi wouldn’t hesitate to hurt him on mere suspicion of disloyalty. The few minutes of difference that marked Hizashi as branch family and Hiashi as clan head were like a glass wall between them ― invisible, but always there. 

And yet. There were hairline fractures in the glass now, and it was even beginning to feel brittle. Hiashi had been oddly warm to him since his return, not only listening to his advice but asking for it, not only sharing occasional meals but actively going out of his way to enjoy his company and that of their family. He had never been so attentive to their kids, either, and Neji was preening under his uncle’s attention. Hiashi’s look of determination would have felt more appropriate for going into battle than for socializing, but Hizashi didn’t have the heart to remark on it. His brother wasn’t really a people person, and he was making an effort.

It felt strange. Hiashi had never been more approachable, and Hizashi had never understood him less. It was driving him out of his mind with frustration.

When he had just asked bluntly what the hell was going on, his brother had looked at him helplessly and told him with apparent regret that it was an S-rank secret enforced by their Hokage. Hizashi had stared, confused, when Hiashi had started to apologize for not breaking the law ― until then, whenever his brother had access to confidential information Hizashi was not privy to, he looked smug and superior, not sorry and contrite. 

Hizashi had abandoned the idea of getting more by the most direct route, but it was still a clue in itself. Whatever happened, Fugaku was involved, and for once Hiashi didn’t look like he resented the Uchiha for his interference. Clan politics? Inter village relationships? Hiashi’s reaction looked too… sincere, for lack of a better word, for something so impersonal. 

His second clue came in the form of a blond brat with a cheery smile. He had been walking home with his brother when Naruto had passed them by, and greeted them with a wave and a chirping “Hi, Hyuuga-sama! Hi, Hiashi-san!”

“I’m Hizashi,” corrected Hizashi kindly. It wasn’t so rare for someone to confuse them, after all.

“Oh, sorry,” apologized the boy with a grin.

“Hello, Naruto,” greeted Hiashi with a sigh. He seemed strangely preoccupied by the simple greeting, and when Naruto sauntered off, he followed him with a pensive stare. 

Hizashi forgot about it, until a quiet evening a few days later. The family had gathered for the meal, and Hiashi persisted in his efforts to listen to everyone, even the kids, with a dutiful attention Hizashi still couldn’t fathom. The clan head had always been severe and exacting, not… complacent? It wasn’t quite right, either, but Hizashi couldn’t find any better as he watched his brother patiently making sure everyone knew he was aware and proud of their efforts, rather than demanding even more. 

He frowned internally, confused. He had always pleaded to let children be children, but they were a shinobi family, their _lives_ depended on their skills, and Hiashi couldn’t let the clan become overconfident, either. It was maddening to see his brother’s complete change of attitude. It was as if Hiashi and Hizashi had spent their lives pulling on a rod from opposite sides, and now that Hiashi was pushing instead of pulling, his brother felt completely out of balance even as they were going in the direction he had thought he wanted. 

After the meal, Hiashi invited him to his study to discuss, and Hizashi obediently followed. Once seated, Hiashi began abruptly. 

“I want to chose Neji as my heir.” 

“He’s branch family,” answered Hizashi immediately, covering under the reflex both his surprise and his sudden hope. 

“He’s a genius and that’s a stupid reason to waste his talent. And if that’s what it takes, I’ll abolish the distinction.” Hiashi was looking at his tightened fists on his knees, and added as if to himself, “Naruto was right, a mere accident of birth shouldn’t matter that much. We’re family first.”

In the widening cracks of that glass wall, Hizashi answered faintly, bewildered, “You want to abolish the branch system just because Naruto confused us?” He could almost feel the brand glowing on his forehead, despite knowing it was hidden beneath the hitai-ate. 

Hiashi snorted. “Confused!” But he denied the notion. “The clan should stand united, not be weakened by such an artificial division.” He frowned and added pensively, “I’ve been reading in the family archives. The seal’s original purpose was sound, we can’t let our eyes fall in enemy hands. But that meaning had been corrupted with the years, and anyway we’re not at war anymore. We’re wasting energy, time and rancor into a system way past its usefulness.”

His brother looked Hizashi in the eyes as he added, “I want to unite the family and either get rid of the Caged Bird Seal entirely, or modify it to prevent misuse.”

“Are you sure? The rest of the main family will balk.” Hizashi could remember the pain of one such use, could hear the hidden apology behind his brother’s words, and _how was he the one defending the main family here?_

“You think it would cause more internal strife?” Hiashi looked suddenly uncertain, taking, _again_ , his brother’s words at heart with way too much trust in his judgement. 

“I just think we should proceed carefully if your goal is to make the transition as peaceful as possible,” hastened to add Hizashi. 

In that unthinking “we” stood the shards of the broken wall between the twins, and they bent their heads to discuss together the future of their family. 

―――

“That he could think of it, ok. Well, not really, but I could have somehow pictured it. But when we talked about internal conflict in the family, he said he would ask _Fugaku_ for advice. _Fugaku_. Since when do we ask an Uchiha for his opinion on the clan’s internal policies?? Since when would they even know better, they’ve been insufferable since Fugaku’s nomination...”

Shibi was listening to Hizashi’s rambling with barely concealed amusement. If his former teammate was the kind to drink alcohol, he would be well on his way to plastered by now, but he had swore off the stuff after a particularly bad hangover years ago. Since he knew Shibi never drank either, he often looked for him when in need of an ear for a good rant around some tea rather than sake. The Aburame was all too happy to oblige ― Hizashi was a gold mine of information, when in a talkative mood.

Shibi couldn’t say he was surprised by Hiashi’s sudden move ― since That Day all the clan heads had engaged in intense self-reflection and tried to take into account their new information when deciding their clan policies. Some were happier than others. The Ino-Shika-Cho trio had breathed a collective sigh of relief, Choza glad to know commercial exchange would likely pick up, Inoichi blissful ― as a part of the Intelligence division, talking with Jiraiya about his spy network and with Naruto about the jinchuuriki network was his equivalent of a cat getting unlimited access to cream ― and Shikaku delighted to know he could laze in all good conscience with much fewer risk of sudden war as a result.

The Aburame clan head was more guarded. Shinobi thrived in conflict, but starved in peace. But they’ll take things as they come. The Hyuuga, though… Yes, Shibi could see Hiashi reacting a bit more radically than any of them. Well, any but one. Shibi did _not_ envy Fugaku his family. 

“Hey!” Hizashi poked him in mock offense. “Were you even listening?”

Shibi smiled serenely. 

“Were you saying anything new?”

Hizashi looked as if he wanted to punch him, but nobly refrained, and Shibi took pity. If Hiashi couldn’t see and do what was necessary… Shibi was almost looking forward to it.

“Did you ask Hiashi what was happening?”

“He said it was classified.”

“A fact I’m going to completely ignore, yes. What do you know about Naruto?”

Hizashi looked at Shibi with sudden caution. Shibi was less of a stickler for the rules than Hiashi, but he wouldn’t deliberately ignore an order casually, either. Hizashi almost regretted his curiosity.

“What everyone knows. Eight years old blond kid whose resemblance with the Yondaime really should have been a clue. Kyuubi’s host, adopted by Hatake, another clear sign now that I think of it. Loud and impatient, favors bright colors. But the Hokage lifted the secrecy law about him when he began training as jinchuuriki, right?”

“Nearly. He revealed a secret when he learned another, bigger one. Naruto’s a time-traveler.”

The news was so unexpected that Hizashi didn’t react right away. He reviewed in his mind all the times he had seen the kid, trying to remember if he had ever seen any discrepancies. Naruto whining when there was a line at the ramen stand, Naruto with his dad eating ice cream during festival, Naruto playing with Kakashi’s ninken under the indulgent eye of their summoner…

“Bullshit.” Hizashi flatly stated.

Shibi grinned, unoffended. 

“See, that’s why I think Fugaku’s wasting his time with a secrecy rule. Nobody believes it at first. When Naruto went out of the village to prevent the war he escaped, he had to beat each of the Sannin first before they listened and helped. Better to accept your opponent is a time-traveler than to consider you might have lost against a nearly toddler, I suppose.”

“Wait. Toddler? Since when is he supposed to have ‘time-traveled’, again?” Hizashi tried to argue, with a sense of vertigo.

“When he was twenty, on the losing side of a global war, he went back to his three-year-old body. Take your time, there’s no danger now.” 

It’s only when he heard the sudden concern in Shibi’s voice that Hizashi noticed he had begun to panic. He took several slow breaths before allowing himself to consider the idea again. 

“You’re telling me Konoha’s jinchuuriki has been an adult time-traveler posing as a child _for the last five years_?”

“Kurama’s jinchuuriki, not Konoha’s, and believe me, that makes one hell of a difference. But yes. The ‘bullshit’ part is the idea that Naruto needs more training as jinchuuriki, but he wanted a vacation from the academy ― his classmates were looking at him weirdly and it was getting at him.” After carefully looking at his guest, Shibi got up to get them more tea, giving Hizashi time to process the idea. 

After a long moment sipping his mug, he gave up thinking alone. Shibi was there, he had way more time to think, and he had always been the most analytical of the team. 

“So, what should we do?” asked Hizashi. 

“About what?” When Hizashi glared at him, Shibi elaborated, “The war Naruto fled won’t happen. He made sure of that years ago. He already fixed all he thought needed fixing, then got ahead a bit by trying to fix things that weren’t broken yet, usually with success. Every neighboring country is currently at peace, every jinchuuriki has learned to cooperate with their Bijuu, most Kage are in the know. He’s won. Nothing left to do but learn to live at peace.”

Hizashi stared at him, feeling lost with a map in hand. He would know the way, if only he knew where he was going. 

“So… nothing?” As if waking up, he got onto firmer ground. “Wait. What did he fix? What made Hiashi react like that?”

Shibi contemplated what to tell while pouring himself another mug of tea with several spoons of honey. He had asked Naruto, but the time-traveler had learned how to be evasive from the best, over two lifetimes. Shibi and Shikaku had spent several very interesting evenings by now trying to put together what the previous timeline must have been from all the scattered testimonies, with the occasional help of Kurama, who had been surprisingly more talkative than Naruto when available. But then, the Kyuubi was so much less forgiving than his host...

“Well, by now there would be no Uchiha clan, for example,” he settled on. “In Naruto’s timeline, internal strife in their family got to a point where they self-destructed, all of the very few survivors becoming missing nins.” He let the idea sink, looking as Hizashi connected the dots, before continuing, “The Sandaime would still be in charge, making greater and greater mistakes, like letting an old friend have his own private army. Or letting an orphan grow up alone and hated.” He stared at his old friend, and added more softly, “Or like letting you die stupidly.”

Hizashi thought he was out of shock, but that made him start. 

“I’d be dead?” And then, almost plaintively, “Already?” He was familiar with death, of course, but… his kid had already lost his mom before he could even remember her. He knew Hiashi would take care of Neji if he had to, but it was cold comfort. 

“You’d be five years dead already, actually,” pointed Shibi dryly.

Five, mouthed Hizashi, stunned. 

The idea of learning more about that alternate timeline was very quickly losing all appeal. Shibi must have noticed his expression, as he took pity and fell silent. Hizashi stared at the empty mug in his hand. His knuckles were whitened under his grip, and he made himself relax his muscles, and carefully put the mug back on the table. 

Shibi didn’t push him, but Hizashi made his goodbyes shortly after. He needed to take a walk. Actually, he needed to go somewhere. 

Once in front of Hatake’s apartment, he nearly hesitated, but made himself knock before he could lose his nerve. He had mentally prepared a greeting for either Naruto or Kakashi, but when Uchiha Obito opened the door, he found himself at a loss for words. The Uchiha looked wary, though not hostile. Hizashi remembered when the Uchiha had come back to the village, and suddenly all he could think about was Shibi’s words, _the few survivors becoming missing nins._

Before he could find something to say, Obito’s scarred face had cleared, with a look of understanding. 

“Oh, I see.” He invited Hizashi to come in, turned back to the inside of the apartment, and called, “Naruto! Someone for you!”

“Coming!” came another voice, soon followed by a running blond. Obito turned aside with an amused, ironic light in the eye, and left Hizashi alone with the jinchuuriki looking up at him curiously. “Hi, Hizashi-san!” 

Hizashi took a breath, and bowed deeply before Naruto. 

“Thank you.”


End file.
